Ten tips for a great trip to Paris

Join our ten tips for a great trip to Paris

•Don’t obsess about timing. The “city of love” is beautiful year round. Each season has its own magic. You can enjoy the warm summer days, the flowery spring in Paris, the fall colors or the snow. Paris is magical at all times of the year. You can find different hotel deals in Paris, yet hotels in Montparnasse are well located and with good value for money.

•Choose good weather to climb the Eiffel tower. To avoid the crowds, do it early in the morning, but if you want more sun, go a bit later to avoid the mist. For a one-time-climbing, the best is to climb short before sunset and stay up until the night sets in, so that you can see Paris from the Eiffel Tower both during the day and during the night. Plus, we all know sunset pictures have the best colors.

•Stroll by the River Seine. The river bank is not 100% romantic with the not unusual smell of pee (especially when passing under a bridge), but on a sunny day it’s a great way to tour some of Paris, or a good place to sit and sip some red wine, feeling like an authentic Parisian.

•Try the crepes in a non-touristy area. True, it might be difficult to find a non-touristy area in Paris. But it is still a big city, so you can certainly ask the locals and find a place where they make the really good crepes, both sweet and salty, accompanied by a very typical alcoholic apple cider. Salut!

•Tour the Latin Quarter. Stroll up Rue de Mouffetard to see a once traditional Parisian street (now very touristy). Where the street ends, make a turn left and go up all the way to the Pantheon. After visiting all well-known characters down in the crypt, you can continue towards the Luxembourg Gardens, where you can relax from all the walking.

•Do not just visit Notre Dame, climb it! Feel like the Notre Dame Hunchback while enjoying a beautiful view over Paris. The location of the church allows for a perfect view of the city center, and pictures of Paris with the Eiffel Tower on it (which you cannot get when standing on the Eiffel Tower itself, of course). Have fun seeing the Notre Dame gargoyles from very very close. This is an experience you will not regret.

•Travel smart. Buy 10-trip tickets for the Paris metro. You do not need the day passes unless you do very poor planning for your itinerary. Most of the time you can just take a metro to one place in the morning, walk around all day and return in the evening. Be safe and avoid travelling at night, especially in the area around Montmartre and Pigalle.

•Crowded but budget travel the first Sunday of the month. All museums are admission-free the first Sunday of every month in Paris, as in all of France. This means you can save some money, but it also means they will be very crowded. Your choice! And do not expect too much of the Louvre’s Mona Lisa, she’s quite small.

•Take a boat tour. It is multi-lingual, so you will probably not learn a lot about the Parisian landscape – by the time they give guidance in English you may have already passed the place they are talking about. Still, this tour is great for taking pictures and seeing Paris from a different perspective.

•Climb up Sacre Coeur without looking back until you reach the top. You will see Paris from a different perspective, and it will be a surprise if you do not peek until you are all the way up.